Adaptive biometric authentication

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are presented for adaptive biometric authentication. According to one example method, a failure of a first type of biometric authentication is detected. In response to detecting the failure of the first type of biometric authentication, an alternative type of authentication is completed. In response to completing the alternative type of authentication, a biometric characteristic of a biometric signature is selectively modified in a stored user profile for processing a subsequent attempt of the first type of biometric authentication.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure is directed to biometric authentication, and moreparticularly, to systems and methods for adaptive biometricauthentication that accommodate one or more varying biometriccharacteristics.

SUMMARY

Current systems enable a user to log in to a user profile or providecommands once authentication of the user is completed, for instance, bycomparing a biometric input to a biometric signature stored in acorresponding user profile. The biometric signature may be associatedwith an individual user and include various characteristics depending onthe nature of the biometric signature (e.g., voice signatures may bedefined by parameters such as pitch, tone, accent, or others).Additionally, these systems may track inputs provided by a particularuser and may update a biometric signature by continuously collectingsamples of the user's biometric input to ensure slight variations in theuser's input still enable a user to log in and have their userpreferences, associated with the user profile, updated based on recentuser activity. A user's biometric input may temporarily change for avariety of reasons, which affects the ability of a biometricauthentication system to authenticate the user by a biometric signature.

In view of the foregoing, systems and methods are described for adaptivebiometric authentication that accommodates one or more varying biometriccharacteristics. The systems and methods herein, for instance, enablebiometric authentication to be successfully completed despite abiometric input that has been, at least temporarily, modified in somemanner. For example, a voice-based biometric input may be altered as aresult of an illness or some injury that changes a corresponding pitch,tone, and/or breathing pattern. In another example, a voice-basedbiometric input may include an accent that is no longer detectable as aresult of some form of temporary condition such as an illness. Thebiometric input may be camera-based and may be utilized to authenticatea user's identity based on a picture of the user's face. In thisexample, a user's face may be partially concealed either with a scarf toaccommodate weather conditions or with a mask to accommodate a sort ofhealth regulation mandate. In another example, the user may utilize aretinal image for the camera-based biometric input. In this example, auser may have different colored or shaped contact lenses that they usefor a single event. The biometric input may also be touch based, whichwould utilize either a handprint or fingerprint for performing thebiometric authentication. In this example, a user may have dirt, a cut,or a bandage which may obscure a portion of the finger or hand when theuser attempts to provide an adequate biometric input.

A system receives a biometric input (e.g., a voice pattern, an imagecapture of a face, or a fingerprint). A failure of a first type ofbiometric authentication is detected. For example, this may bedetermined by comparing biometric characteristics of the biometric inputto at least one stored biometric signature. In this example, thebiometric characteristics of the biometric input may not match or maynot be within a threshold similarity value to the respective biometriccharacteristics of a stored biometric signature to enable biometricauthentication of the source of the biometric input. In response todetecting the failure of the first type of biometric authentication, auser is prompted to complete an alternative type of authentication(e.g., if a voice-based authentication fails and the system determinesanother form of authentication has been enabled by the stored userprofile such as a username and password entry, the user is prompted toenter the username and password corresponding to the stored userprofile).

Once the user completes the alternative type of authentication, acomparison between the biometric characteristics of the biometric inputand the respective biometric characteristics of the biometric signaturecorresponding the stored user profile, for which the alternativeauthentication was successfully completed, is performed. For example, atleast one biometric characteristic may be determined to be differentbetween the biometric input and the biometric signature based on thecomparison (e.g., the biometric input may be a voice-based input and thepitch of the biometric input is different from the pitch of the storedvoice-based biometric signature). In response to determining at leastone biometric characteristic if different, the at least one biometriccharacteristic that is determined to be different is selectivelymodified in the biometric signature for processing a subsequent attemptof the first type of biometric authentication.

Subsequent biometric inputs provided by the user corresponding to thestored user profile will be continuously monitored in order. After atransient period of time, either by information directly provided by theuser or by an analysis of a subsequent biometric input, it will bedetermined that the biometric characteristic, that was selectivelymodified in the biometric signature corresponding to the stored userprofile, can be produced by the user in the unmodified format. Based onthe determining, the biometric signature corresponding to the storeduser profile will return to the state it was prior to the selectivemodification of the biometric characteristic by reversing themodification of the biometric characteristic in the stored biometricsignature performed after detecting the initial failure of the firsttype of biometric authentication.

These techniques solve the problems of other approaches described above.In particular, this approach does not utilize the biometric input thatled to the failure of the first type of biometric authentication as datathat contributes to a permanent adaptation of the biometriccharacteristics of the biometric signature for the stored user profile.Instead, the biometric characteristic that cannot be provided in a statethat enables a successful biometric authentication is selectivelymodified in a stored biometric signature until it is determined that thebiometric characteristic can once again be provided in a state thatenables successful completion of the biometric authentication. Thus, theselective modification is transient and reversable without preventing auser from being able to utilize a particular form of biometricauthentication.

Additionally, this approach does not require a user to generate a newbiometric signature to continue using a particular form of biometricauthentication, nor does it require a user to create a new profilecorresponding to a new biometric signature. By continuously reviewing aplurality of data from a variety of sources that may indicate the sourceof biometric input corresponding to the biometric signature has returnedto an original state, the current association between a previously usedbiometric signature and a stored user profile is retained. The approachalso addresses the deficiencies in relying on a set list of biometriccharacteristics of a biometric signature, as opposed to adapting a setof biometric characteristics of a biometric signature based on a user'sability to provide the biometric characteristics by a biometric input asenabled by the systems and methods described herein.

In some embodiments, detecting the failure of the first type ofbiometric authentication includes comparing the biometric characteristicof the biometric input signal to the biometric characteristics of thebiometric signature in the stored user profile and determining, based onthe comparing, that the biometric characteristic of the biometric inputsignal is below a threshold similarity value of the biometriccharacteristic of the biometric signature in the stored user profile.The threshold similarity value may be a stored number, based on theunits of measurement corresponding to a particular biometriccharacteristic. The stored number may correspond to a difference or maycorrespond to a particular minimum value. Certain biometriccharacteristics may not have units of measurement associated with theirdescriptive attributes and may be assigned a binary threshold. Thebinary threshold indicates that the biometric characteristic of thebiometric input either matches or does not match the correspondingbiometric characteristic of the biometric input (e.g., an accent of aprovided voice sample either will or will not match an accent of astored voice signature).

In some embodiments, it may be determined an alternative authenticationmethod has been enabled on a device that corresponds to the stored userprofile. The alternative authentication method may be a different typeof biometric authentication (e.g., a voice authentication failed, and afingerprint authentication is also enabled). The alternativeauthentication method may be a type of authentication that does notrequire a biometric input (e.g., entering a username and a correspondingpassword). In some embodiments, the control circuitry (e.g., controlcircuitry 408 of FIG. 4 ) may default to the non-biometricauthentication as an alternative once the failure of the first type ofbiometric authentication is detected. Once the failure of the first typeof biometric authentication is detected, a prompt may be generatedinforming the user of the failure of the first type of biometricauthentication, and it may also provide instruction regarding the needfor an alternative form of authentication to be completed to access thestored user profile.

In some embodiments, selectively modifying, in the stored user profile,the biometric characteristic of the biometric signature for processingthe subsequent attempt of the first type of biometric authenticationincludes modifying an emphasis factor corresponding to the one or moreof the biometric characteristics of the biometric signature selected formodification. The emphasis factor may correspond to weight that aparticular biometric characteristic has in determining if the biometricauthentication can be completed based on a biometric input. In someembodiments, modifying the emphasis factor may be completed by settingthe emphasis factor to a value of zero to prevent the biometriccharacteristic from being used as part of the biometric authenticationanalysis.

In some embodiments, a confidence value may be utilized to verify that aparticular user's ability to provide a particular biometric input hasbeen compromised. A plurality of data associated with a stored userprofile may be accessed to search for information indicating a status ofa biometric input (e.g., calendar data or messages related to a trip toa doctor or clarifying statements about a user's voice being altered).Based on the plurality of data, the confidence value may be generatedthat corresponds to a biometric characteristic of a biometric signature.The confidence value indicates a probability that utilizing thebiometric characteristic would cause the first type of biometricauthentication to fail based on an inability to determine that abiometric input is similar enough to or matches the biometric signature.

In some embodiments, the confidence value may be compared to a thresholdconfidence value. For example, the threshold confidence value, ifmatched or exceeded, results in a determination that the first type ofbiometric authentication cannot be completed. In some embodiments, thethreshold confidence value may be tiered between a minimum and a maximumvalue. For example, if the confidence value generated based on theplurality of data corresponding to the stored user profile matches orexceeds the minimum value, the user may be prompted to provideconfirmation that the user in incapable of providing a biometric inputthat enables completion of the first type of biometric authentication.Additionally, if the confidence value generated based on the pluralityof data corresponding to the stored user profile matches or exceeds themaximum value, a prompt may be generated requesting entry of analternative input signal to perform an alternative type ofauthentication.

In some embodiments, a confirmation prompt may be generated, after apredetermined period of time, requesting user confirmation that thebiometric characteristic of the biometric signature can be provided inits state prior to the detected failure. In response to receiving aconfirmation from the user that the biometric characteristic of thebiometric signature can once again be provided in its state prior to thedetected failure, the biometric characteristic of the biometricsignature may be returned to its state prior to the selectivemodification for processing a third attempt of the first type ofbiometric authentication.

In some embodiments, a probability that utilizing the biometriccharacteristic would cause the first type of biometric authentication tobe successfully completed may be determined. In response to thedetermining, the biometric characteristic of the biometric signature maybe returned to its state prior to the selective modification forprocessing a third attempt of the first type of biometricauthentication. In some embodiments, the probability may be determinedby comparing one or more biometric characteristics of a subsequentbiometric input signal to one or more respective biometriccharacteristics of a biometric signature in the stored user profile. Insome embodiments, the comparison involves a comparison to a thresholdsimilarity value, as with the initial comparison for detecting thefailure of the biometric authentication. If the threshold similarity ismatched or exceeded, the modification of the biometric characteristiccorresponding to the biometric signature may be reversed.

In some embodiments a plurality of data associated with the stored userprofile may be retrieved and may be used to generate a subsequentconfidence value. For example, the confidence value can indicate aprobability that utilizing the biometric characteristic would cause thefirst type of biometric authentication to fail. The subsequentconfidence value may be compared to a threshold confidence value. If thesubsequent confidence value is less than the threshold confidence value,the biometric characteristic of the biometric signature may be returnedto its state prior to the selective modification for processing a thirdattempt of the first type of biometric authentication. In someembodiments, the threshold confidence value may be tiered and exceedingthe maximum value results in a prompt being generated for the user toconfirm the biometric characteristic can be returned while onlyexceeding minimum value results in the reversion occurringautomatically.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure, in accordance with one or more variousembodiments, is described in detail with reference to the followingfigures. The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration only andmerely depict typical or example embodiments. These drawings areprovided to facilitate an understanding of the concepts disclosed hereinand should not be considered limiting of the breadth, scope, orapplicability of these concepts. It should be noted that for clarity andease of illustration these drawings are not necessarily made to scale.

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure may beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example scenario in which adaptive biometricauthentication is implemented based on an audio input, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example scenario in which adaptive biometricauthentication is implemented based on a camera-based input, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example scenario in which adaptive biometricauthentication is implemented based on a touch-based input, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram representing an example adaptive biometricauthentication system, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart representing an illustrative adaptive biometricauthentication process, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart representing an illustrative process forselectively modifying a biometric characteristic of a biometricsignature, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart representing an illustrative process fordetermining whether a biometric characteristic has changed, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart representing an illustrative process forcompleting an alternative type of authentication after detecting afailure of a first type of biometric authentication, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart representing an illustrative process fordetermining when to return the modified biometric characteristic of thebiometric signature to a state prior to the selective modification, inaccordance with some disclosed methods and embodiments;

FIG. 10A is an illustrative example data structure of a biometricsignature, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 10B is an illustrative example of how the biometric signature ofFIG. 10A may be selectively modified based on received biometric inputcharacteristics, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 11 is an illustrative example of a comparison of biometric inputcharacteristics to a stored biometric signature, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 12 is an illustrative example of a threshold-based comparison ofreceived biometric input characteristics and corresponding storedbiometric characteristics of a biometric signature, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 13 is an illustrative example of a collection of how weights ofbiometric characteristics of a biometric signature may be modified, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Methods and systems are provided herein for adaptive biometricauthentication. The methods and/or any instructions for performing anyof the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computer-readablemedia. Computer-readable media includes any media capable of storingdata. The computer-readable media may be transitory, including, but notlimited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals, or may benon-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile and non-volatilecomputer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk, floppy disk, USBdrive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processor caches, randomaccess memory (RAM), etc.

FIG. 1 depicts a scenario 100 in which adaptive biometric authenticationis implemented based on an audio input, in accordance with someexemplary embodiments. In some embodiments, one or more parts of or theentirety of the interactive system is configured as a systemimplementing various features, processes, and components of FIGS. 2-13 .Although FIG. 4 shows a certain number of components, in variousexamples, the interactive system may include fewer than the illustratednumber of components and/or multiples of one or more of the illustratednumber of components.

Biometric authentication scenario 100 is configured to receive inputsfrom user 102. User 102 speaks a phrase, such as audio pattern 104, thatmay provide an inquiry or command to commence biometric authenticationscenario 100. In some embodiments, audio pattern 104 may be any of anactivation phrase, an inquiry, a command, or a request that may triggerbiometric authentication scenario 100 to process audio 104 for thepurposes of identifying a particular user identity and determine ifthere is a stored user profile or user preferences associated with aparticular user identity. For example, audio pattern 104 may be acommand-based inquiry such as, “Find . . . upcoming movie RELEASES.” Inthis example, audio pattern 104 includes a collection of characteristicsincluding pauses and word emphasis. In some embodiments, biometricauthentication scenario 100 may consider one or both of at least thesecharacteristics when performing an audio input based biometricauthentication (e.g., biometric authentication process 600 of FIG. 6 ).

In the event biometric authentication scenario 100 detects a failure ofa first type of biometric authentication, notice 106 is generated whichinforms the user that the first type of biometric authentication failedand prompts the user to provide credentials 108. For example,credentials 108 may include any implemented alternative authenticationmethod that user 102 enabled in their stored user profile. In someembodiments, control circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 408 of FIG. 4 )may prompt a second biometric authentication for receiving credentials108 (e.g., a fingerprint or a face image). In some embodiments, thecontrol circuitry may prompt a nonbiometric authentication for receivingcredentials 108 (e.g., a username and password authentication). In someembodiments, the control circuitry may determine which alternativeauthentication method to prompt the user to try based on biometricauthentication process 500 of FIG. 5 or biometric authentication process800 of FIG. 8 .

Once the user is prompted to enter credentials 108, the user completesalternative authentication 110 by entering the requested credentials.After the user enters credentials 108, the control circuitry determinesa stored user profile corresponding to credentials 108 (e.g., USER1).The control circuitry then retrieves a biometric signature correspondingto the first type of biometric authentication that failed and the userprofile corresponding to credentials 108. Once the biometric signatureis retrieved, the control circuitry completes comparison 112 between theretrieved biometric signature (e.g., a voice based biometric signature)and audio pattern 104. In some embodiments, the comparison may beexecuted by biometric authentication process 600 of FIG. 6 , as depictedby FIGS. 10A-13 .

The control circuitry determines, based on the comparison, status 114 ofthe biometric signature corresponding to the verified stored userprofile. For example, status 114 may indicate there is a “Voice PatternChange” for the biometric signature used to authenticate a stored userprofile based on audio inputs such as audio pattern 104. The controlcircuitry determines, based on the comparison, that characteristics 116cannot be provided in a manner that enables authentication based on thestored biometric signature. In response to this determination, thecontrol circuitry selectively modifies the stored biometric signaturesuch that characteristics 116 are not considered as part of a subsequentauthentication attempt of the first type of biometric authentication.

In some embodiments, selectively modifying, in the stored user profile,characteristics 116 of the biometric signature for processing thesubsequent attempt of the first type of biometric authenticationincludes modifying an emphasis factor corresponding to the one or moreof characteristics 116 of the biometric signature selected formodification as depicted in modification process 1300 of FIG. 13 . Theemphasis factor may correspond to weight that a particular biometriccharacteristic of characteristics 116 has in determining if thebiometric authentication can be completed based on a biometric input. Insome embodiments, modifying the emphasis factor may be completed bysetting the emphasis factor to a value of zero to preventcharacteristics 116 from being used as part of the biometricauthentication analysis. In some embodiments, selectively modifying mayinclude suppressing characteristics 116 without the use of an emphasisfactor. In some embodiments, selectively modifying may includeredistributing the value of an emphasis factor among the remainingcharacteristics such that the previous weight assigned tocharacteristics 116 is now applied to the remaining characteristics fora subsequent authentication attempt of the first type of biometricauthentication.

FIG. 2 depicts biometric authentication scenario 200 where a biometricauthentication is attempted based on a camera-sourced input, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. In some embodiments,one or more parts of or the entirety of the interactive system may beconfigured as a system implementing various features, processes, andcomponents of FIGS. 1 and 3-13 . Although FIG. 4 shows a certain numberof components, in various examples, the interactive system may includefewer than the illustrated number of components and/or multiples of oneor more of the illustrated number of components.

FIG. 2 depicts a scenario 200 in which adaptive biometric authenticationis implemented based on a camera-based input, in accordance with someexemplary embodiments. Biometric authentication scenario 200 includesreceiving camera-based inputs from user 202. User 202 presents theirface which for a facial recognition authentication. In some embodiments,user 202 may present an individual aspect of their face forauthentication such as an eye. The face of user 202 may be obstructed byan object, such as a mask or scarf, which inhibits biometricauthentication scenario 200 from completing a camera-basedauthentication process. In some embodiments, a form of authenticationmay be required for the purposes of identifying a particular useridentity and determine if there is a stored user profile or userpreferences associated with a particular user identity. In this example,the face of user 202 includes a collection of characteristics includingattributes of the hair of user 202, the eyes of user 202, the ears ofuser 202. In some embodiments, biometric authentication scenario 200 mayconsider some or all of at least these characteristics when performing acamera-based biometric authentication (e.g., biometric authenticationprocess 600 of FIG. 6 ).

In the event biometric authentication scenario 200 detects a failure ofa first type of biometric authentication, notice 204 is generated whichinforms the user that the first type of biometric authentication failedand prompts the user to provide credentials 206. In this example,biometric authentication scenario 200 detects a failure based on aninability to see additional characteristics of the face of user 202besides attributes of the hair of user 202, the eyes of user 202, theears of user 202. Biometric authentication scenario 200 requiresadditional data from characteristics below the eyes of user 202, such ascharacteristics corresponding to the nose, mouth and chin of user 202 tosuccessfully authenticate user 202 based on this camera-based input.

Credentials 206 may include any implemented alternative authenticationmethod that user 202 enabled in their stored user profile. In someembodiments, control circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 408 of FIG. 4 )may prompt a second biometric authentication for receiving credentials206 (e.g., a voice pattern or a fingerprint). In some embodiments, thecontrol circuitry may prompt a nonbiometric authentication for receivingcredentials 206 (e.g., a username and password authentication). In someembodiments, the control circuitry may determine which alternativeauthentication method to prompt the user to try based on biometricauthentication process 500 of FIG. 5 or biometric authentication process800 of FIG. 8 .

Once the user is prompted to enter credentials 206, the user completesalternative authentication 208 by entering the requested credentials.After the user enters credentials 206, the control circuitry identifiesa stored user profile corresponding to credentials 206 (e.g., USER1).The control circuitry then retrieves a biometric signature correspondingto the first type of biometric authentication that failed and the userprofile corresponding to credentials 206. Once the biometric signatureis retrieved, the control circuitry completes comparison 210 between theretrieved biometric signature and the recent input of the face of user202. In some embodiments, the comparison may be executed by biometricauthentication process 600 of FIG. 6 , as depicted by FIGS. 10A-13 .

The control circuitry determines, based on the comparison, status 212 ofthe biometric signature corresponding to the verified stored userprofile. For example, status 212 may indicate “Facial Input Modified”for the biometric signature used to authenticate a stored user profilebased on the recent input of the face of user 202. The control circuitrydetermines, based on the comparison, that characteristics 214 cannot beprovided in a manner that enables authentication based on the storedbiometric signature. In response to this determination, the controlcircuitry selectively modifies the stored biometric signature such thatcharacteristics 214 are not considered as part of a subsequentauthentication attempt of the first type of biometric authentication.

In some embodiments, selectively modifying, in the stored user profile,characteristics 214 of the biometric signature for processing thesubsequent attempt of the first type of biometric authenticationincludes modifying an emphasis factor corresponding to the one or moreof characteristics 214 of the biometric signature selected formodification as depicted in modification process 1300 of FIG. 13 . Theemphasis factor may correspond to weight that a particular biometriccharacteristic of characteristics 214 has in determining if thebiometric authentication can be completed based on a biometric input. Insome embodiments, modifying the emphasis factor may be completed bysetting the emphasis factor to a value of zero to preventcharacteristics 214 from being used as part of the biometricauthentication analysis. In some embodiments, selectively modifying mayinclude suppressing characteristics 214 without the use of an emphasisfactor. In some embodiments, selectively modifying may includeredistributing the value of an emphasis factor among the remainingcharacteristics such that the previous weight assigned tocharacteristics 214 is now applied to the remaining characteristics fora subsequent authentication attempt of the first type of biometricauthentication. In this example, the features of user 202 below the eyesmay not be considered for subsequent attempts to authenticate theidentity of user 202 based on this camera-based authentication method.

FIG. 3 depicts a scenario 300 in which adaptive biometric authenticationis implemented based on a touch-based input, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more parts ofor the entirety of the interactive system may be configured as a systemimplementing various features, processes, and components of FIGS. 1, 2and 4-13 . Although FIG. 4 shows a certain number of components, invarious examples, the interactive system may include fewer than theillustrated number of components and/or multiples of one or more of theillustrated number of components.

Biometric authentication scenario 300 is configured to receive inputsfrom a user by touch interface 302. Touch interface 302 is utilized toprovide a touch-based biometric input such as print 304. In someembodiments, print 304 may be substituted by a handprint or any of aplurality of touch-based inputs, such as a plurality of finger prints,which may trigger biometric authentication scenario 300 to process print304 for the purposes of identifying a particular user identity anddetermining if there is a stored user profile or user preferencesassociated with a particular user identity. For example, print 304 maybe a fingerprint. In this example, print 304 includes a collection ofcharacteristics such as the shape and orientation of ridges in theprint. In some embodiments, biometric authentication scenario 300 mayconsider some or all of at least these characteristics, and may considerrelative values corresponding to these characteristics when performingtouch-based biometric authentication (e.g., biometric authenticationprocess 600 of FIG. 6 ).

In the event biometric authentication scenario 300 detects a failure ofa first type of biometric authentication, notice 306 is generated, whichinforms the user that the first type of biometric authentication failedand prompts the user to provide credentials 308. For example,credentials 308 includes any implemented alternative authenticationmethod that is enabled in their stored user profile. In someembodiments, control circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 408 of FIG. 4 )may prompt a second biometric authentication for receiving credentials308 (e.g., a voice pattern or a face image). In some embodiments, thecontrol circuitry may prompt a nonbiometric authentication for receivingcredentials 308 (e.g., a username and password authentication). In someembodiments, the control circuitry may determine which alternativeauthentication method to prompt the user to try based on biometricauthentication process 500 of FIG. 5 or biometric authentication process800 of FIG. 8 .

Once the user is prompted to enter credentials 308, the user completesalternative authentication 310 by entering the requested credentials.After the user enters credentials 308, the control circuitry determinesa stored user profile corresponding to credentials 308 (e.g., USER1).The control circuitry then retrieves a biometric signature correspondingto the first type of biometric authentication that failed and the userprofile corresponding to credentials 308. Once the biometric signatureis retrieved, the control circuitry completes comparison 312 between theretrieved biometric signature and print 304. In some embodiments, thecomparison may be executed by biometric authentication process 600 ofFIG. 6 , as depicted by FIGS. 10A-13 .

The control circuitry determines, based on the comparison, status 314 ofthe biometric signature corresponding to the verified stored userprofile. For example, status 314 may indicate “Fingerprint Altered” forthe biometric signature used to authenticate a stored user profile basedon a touch-based input such as print 304. The control circuitrydetermines, based on the comparison, that characteristics 316 cannot beprovided in a manner that enables authentication based on the storedbiometric signature. In response to this determination, the controlcircuitry selectively modifies the stored biometric signature such thatcharacteristics 316 are not considered as part of a subsequentauthentication attempt of the first type of biometric authentication.

In some embodiments, selectively modifying, in the stored user profile,characteristics 316 of the biometric signature for processing thesubsequent attempt of the first type of biometric authenticationincludes modifying an emphasis factor corresponding to the one or moreof characteristics 316 of the biometric signature selected formodification as depicted in modification process 1300 of FIG. 13 . Theemphasis factor may correspond to weight that a particular biometriccharacteristic of characteristics 316 has in determining if thebiometric authentication can be completed based on a biometric input. Insome embodiments, modifying the emphasis factor may be completed bysetting the emphasis factor to a value of zero to preventcharacteristics 316 from being used as part of the biometricauthentication analysis. In some embodiments, selectively modifying mayinclude suppressing characteristics 316 without the use of an emphasisfactor. In some embodiments, selectively modifying may includeredistributing the value of an emphasis factor among the remainingcharacteristics such that the previous weight assigned tocharacteristics 316 is now applied to the remaining characteristics fora subsequent authentication attempt of the first type of biometricauthentication. For example, if print 304 shows the center line of datafrom a fingerprint of a user cannot be reproduced to match a storedfingerprint that center line data may be suppressed or excluded fromanalysis of a subsequent fingerprint input for a subsequent attempt at afirst type of biometric authentication.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram representing devices, components of eachdevice, and data flow therebetween for biometric authentication system400 for enabling biometric authentication, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. For example, the biometric authenticationmay be used as a mechanism to enable a user to log in to a stored userprofile, and access an application platform. The platform is configuredbased on user preferences that correspond to an authenticated userprofile. Alternatively, the biometric authentication can be used toenable a system or application to record and store user activity for thepurposes of updating a configuration of a user platform and/or providingrecommendations for additional content and/or other configurationoptions. The interactive system is shown to include computing device402, server 404, and a communication network 406. It is understood thatwhile a single instance of a component may be shown and describedrelative to FIG. 4 , additional instances of the component may beemployed. For example, server 404 may include, or may be incorporatedin, more than one server. Similarly, communication network 406 mayinclude, or may be incorporated in, more than one communication network.Server 404 is shown communicatively coupled to computing device 402through communication network 406. While not shown in FIG. 4 , server404 may be directly communicatively coupled to computing device 402, forexample, in a system absent or bypassing communication network 406.

Communication network 406 may include one or more network systems, suchas, without limitation, Internet, LAN, Wi-Fi or other network systemssuitable for audio processing applications. In some embodiments, thesystem of FIG. 4 excludes server 404, and functionality that wouldotherwise be implemented by server 404 is instead implemented by othercomponents of the system depicted by FIG. 4 , such as one or morecomponents of communication network 406. In still other embodiments,server 404 works in conjunction with one or more components ofcommunication network 406 to implement certain functionality describedherein in a distributed or cooperative manner. Similarly, in someembodiments, the system depicted by FIG. 4 excludes computing device402, and functionality that would otherwise be implemented by computingdevice 402 is instead implemented by other components of the systemdepicted by FIG. 4 , such as one or more components of communicationnetwork 406 or server 404 or a combination of the same. In otherembodiments, computing device 402 works in conjunction with one or morecomponents of communication network 406 or server 404 to implementcertain functionality described herein in a distributed or cooperativemanner.

Computing device 402 includes control circuitry 408, display 410 andinput/output circuitry 412. Control circuitry 408 may be based on anysuitable processing circuitry and includes control circuits and memorycircuits, which may be disposed on a single integrated circuit or may bediscrete components. As referred to herein, processing circuitry shouldbe understood to mean circuitry based on one or more microprocessors,microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices,field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), etc., and may include a multi-core processor (e.g.,dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or any suitable number of cores). Insome embodiments, processing circuitry may be distributed acrossmultiple separate processors or processing units, for example, multipleof the same type of processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7processors) or multiple different processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5processor and an Intel Core i7 processor). Some control circuits may beimplemented in hardware, firmware, or software. Control circuitry 408 inturn includes communication circuitry 426, storage 422 and processingcircuitry 418. In some embodiments, computing device 402 or controlcircuitry 408 may be configured as varying embodiments, or combinationsof varying embodiments, of biometric authentication scenario 100 of FIG.1 , biometric authentication scenario 200 of FIG. 2 and biometricauthentication scenario 300 of FIG. 3 all configured to execute thevarious methods depicted in FIGS. 5-13 .

In addition to control circuitry 408 and 434, computing device 402 andserver 404 may each include storage (storage 422, and storage 438,respectively). Each of storages 422 and 438 may be an electronic storagedevice. As referred to herein, the phrase “electronic storage device” or“storage device” should be understood to mean any device for storingelectronic data, computer software, or firmware, such as random-accessmemory, read-only memory, hard drives, optical drives, digital videodisc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD) recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD)recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders, digital video recorders (DVRs,sometimes called personal video recorders, or PVRs), solid statedevices, quantum storage devices, gaming consoles, gaming media, or anyother suitable fixed or removable storage devices, and/or anycombination of the same. Each of storage 422 and 438 may be used tostore various types of content, metadata, and/or other types of data(e.g., they can be used to record audio questions asked by one or moreparticipants connected to a conference). Non-volatile memory may also beused (e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions).Cloud-based storage may be used to supplement storages 422 and 438 orinstead of storages 422 and 438. In some embodiments, a biometric inputprovided for the purposes of an authentication attempt or a biometricsignature corresponding to a stored used profile or a stored userprofile and corresponding user preferences may be stored in one or moreof storages 422 and 438.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 408 and/or 434 executesinstructions for an application stored in memory (e.g., storage 422and/or storage 438). Specifically, control circuitry 408 and/or 434 maybe instructed by the application to perform the functions discussedherein. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 408 and/or 434 may be based on instructions received from theapplication. For example, the application may be implemented as softwareor a set of executable instructions that may be stored in storage 422and/or 438 and executed by control circuitry 408 and/or 434. In someembodiments, the application may be a client/server application whereonly a client application resides on computing device 402, and a serverapplication resides on server 404.

The application may be implemented using any suitable architecture. Forexample, it may be a stand-alone application wholly implemented oncomputing device 402. In such an approach, instructions for theapplication are stored locally (e.g., in storage 422), and data for useby the application is downloaded on a periodic basis (e.g., from anout-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, or using another suitableapproach). Control circuitry 408 may retrieve instructions for theapplication from storage 422 and process the instructions to perform thefunctionality described herein. Based on the processed instructions,control circuitry 408 may determine a type of action to perform inresponse to input received from input/output circuitry 412 or fromcommunication network 406. For example, in response to a user providinga biometric input as an attempt to complete a form of biometricauthentication, control circuitry 408 may perform the steps of biometricauthentication process 500 (FIG. 5 ), biometric authentication process600 (FIG. 6 ), biometric authentication process 700 (FIG. 7 ), biometricauthentication process 700 (FIG. 7 ), biometric authentication process800 (FIG. 8 ), biometric authentication process 900 (FIG. 9 ), orprocesses relative to various embodiments, as depicted by but notlimited to biometric authentication scenario 100 of FIG. 1 , biometricauthentication scenario 200 of FIG. 2 , and biometric authenticationscenario 300 of FIG. 3 including the comparison and suppressionprocesses depicted in FIGS. 10A-13 .

In client/server-based embodiments, control circuitry 408 may includecommunication circuitry suitable for communicating with an applicationserver (e.g., server 404) or other networks or servers. The instructionsfor carrying out the functionality described herein may be stored on theapplication server. Communication circuitry may include a cable modem,an Ethernet card, or a wireless modem for communication with otherequipment, or any other suitable communication circuitry. Suchcommunication may involve the Internet or any other suitablecommunication networks or paths (e.g., communication network 406). Inanother example of a client/server-based application, control circuitry408 runs a web browser that interprets web pages provided by a remoteserver (e.g., server 404). For example, the remote server may store theinstructions for the application in a storage device. The remote servermay process the stored instructions using circuitry (e.g., controlcircuitry 434) and/or generate displays. Computing device 402 mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally via display 410. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely (e.g., by server404) while the resulting displays, such as the display windows describedelsewhere herein, are provided locally on computing device 404.Computing device 402 may receive inputs from the user via input/outputcircuitry 412 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. Alternatively,computing device 402 may receive inputs from the user via input/outputcircuitry 412 and process and display the received inputs locally, bycontrol circuitry 408 and display 410, respectively.

Server 404 and computing device 402 may transmit and receive content anddata such as media content via communication network 406. For example,server 404 may be a media content provider, and computing device 404 maybe a smart television configured to download or stream media content,such as a live news broadcast, from server 404. Control circuitry 434,408 may send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datathrough communication network 406 using communication circuitry 432,426, respectively. Alternatively, control circuitry 434, 408 maycommunicate directly with each other using communication circuitry 432,426, respectively, avoiding communication network 406.

It is understood that computing device 402 is not limited to theembodiments and methods shown and described herein. In nonlimitingexamples, computing device 402 may be a television, a Smart TV, aset-top box, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a handheld computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smartphone, or any other device, computing equipment, orwireless device, and/or combination of the same capable of suitablydisplaying and manipulating media content.

Computing device 402 receives user input 414 at input/output circuitry412. For example, computing device 402 may receive a user input such asa user swipe or user touch. In some embodiments, computing device 402 isa media device (or player) configured as biometric authenticationscenario 100 of FIG. 1 , biometric authentication scenario 200 of FIG. 2, and/or biometric authentication scenario 300 of FIG. 3 with thecapability to execute any of the authentication methods describedtherein. It is understood that computing device 402 is not limited tothe embodiments and methods shown and described herein.

User input 414 may be received from a user selection-capturing interfacethat is separate from device 402, such as a remote-control device,trackpad or any other suitable user movement-sensitive, audio-sensitiveor capture devices, or as part of device 402, such as a touchscreen ofdisplay 410. Transmission of user input 414 to computing device 402 maybe accomplished using a wired connection, such as an audio cable, USBcable, ethernet cable or the like attached to a corresponding input portat a local device, or may be accomplished using a wireless connection,such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, GSM, UTMS, CDMA, TDMA, 3G, 4G, 4G LTE,5G, or any other suitable wireless transmission protocol. Input/outputcircuitry 312 may include a physical input port such as a 3.5 mm audiojack, RCA audio jack, USB port, ethernet port, or any other suitableconnection for receiving audio over a wired connection, or may include awireless receiver configured to receive data via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi,WiMAX, GSM, UTMS, CDMA, TDMA, 3G, 4G, 4G LTE, 5G, or other wirelesstransmission protocols.

Processing circuitry 418 may receive user input 414 from input/outputcircuitry 412 using communication path 416. Processing circuitry 418 mayconvert or translate the received user input 414 that may be in the formof audio data, visual data, gestures or movement to digital signals. Insome embodiments, input/output circuitry 412 performs the translation todigital signals. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 418 (orprocessing circuitry 436, as the case may be) carries out disclosedprocesses and methods. For example, processing circuitry 418 orprocessing circuitry 436 may perform the steps of biometricauthentication process 500 (FIG. 5 ), biometric authentication process600 (FIG. 6 ), biometric authentication process 700 (FIG. 7 ), biometricauthentication process 700 (FIG. 7 ), biometric authentication process800 (FIG. 8 ), biometric authentication process 900 (FIG. 9 ), orprocesses relative to various embodiments, as depicted by but notlimited to biometric authentication scenario 100 of FIG. 1 , biometricauthentication scenario 200 of FIG. 2 , and biometric authenticationscenario 300 of FIG. 3 including the comparison and suppressionprocesses depicted in FIGS. 10A-13 .

Processing circuitry 418 may provide requests to storage 422 bycommunication path 420. Storage 422 may provide requested information toprocessing circuitry 418 by communication path 446. Storage 422 maytransfer a request for information to communication circuitry 426 whichmay translate or encode the request for information to a formatreceivable by communication network 406 before transferring the requestfor information by communication path 428. Communication network 406 mayforward the translated or encoded request for information tocommunication circuitry 432, by communication paths 430.

At communication circuitry 432, the translated or encoded request forinformation, received through communication path 430, is translated ordecoded for processing circuitry 436, which will provide a response tothe request for information based on information available throughcontrol circuitry 434 or storage 438, or a combination thereof. Theresponse to the request for information is then provided back tocommunication network 406 by communication path 440 in an encoded ortranslated format such that communication network 406 can forward theencoded or translated response back to communication circuitry 426 bycommunication path 442.

At communication circuitry 426, the encoded or translated response tothe request for information may be provided directly back to processingcircuitry 418 by communication path 454, or may be provided to storage422 through communication path 444, which then provides the informationto processing circuitry 418 by communication path 446. Processingcircuitry 418 may also provide a request for information directly tocommunication circuitry 426 though communication path 452, where storage426 responds to an information request, provided through communicationpath 420 or 444, by communication path 424 or 446 that storage 422 doesnot contain information pertaining to the request from processingcircuitry 418.

Processing circuitry 418 may process the response to the requestreceived through communication paths 446 or 454 and may provideinstructions to display 410 for a notification to be provided to theusers through communication path 448. Display 410 may incorporate atimer for providing the notification or may rely on inputs throughinput/output circuitry 412 from the user, which are forwarded throughprocessing circuitry 418 through communication path 448, to determinehow long or in what format to provide the notification. When display 410determines the display has been completed, a notification may beprovided to processing circuitry 418 through communication path 450.

The communication paths provided in FIG. 4 between computing device 402,server 404, communication network 406, and all subcomponents depictedare exemplary and may be modified to reduce processing time or enhanceprocessing capabilities for each step in the processes disclosed hereinby one skilled in the art.

FIG. 5 depicts illustrative biometric authentication process 500 forenabling access to a stored user profile using a modified biometricsignature despite an inability to generate a biometric input thatenables authentication based on the stored biometric signature, inaccordance with some disclosed methods and embodiments. For example, auser may provide a biometric input at 502 that is an audio input thatmay be used by one of the biometric authentication systems describedherein for the purpose of attempting to authenticate a user identity inorder to retrieve a stored user profile corresponding to the useridentity. In other examples, the biometric input may be exemplified byany of the inputs provided and analyzed in FIGS. 1-3 .

It should be noted that the process depicted in FIG. 5 or any stepthereof could be performed on, or provided by, any device shown in FIG.4 and can incorporate various user interfaces (e.g., on display 410 ofFIG. 4 ). For example, the process depicted in FIG. 5 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 408 (FIG. 4 ) of user equipment exemplified bycomputing device 402. In addition, one or more steps of the processdepicted in FIG. 5 may be incorporated into or combined with one or moresteps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., starting at processblock 602 in biometric authentication process 600 of FIG. 6 , startingat process block 702 in biometric authentication process 700 of FIG. 7 ,starting at process block 802 in biometric authentication process 800 ofFIG. 8 , starting at process block 902 in process 900 of FIG. 9 orutilizing the comparison and selective modification process exemplifiedby any or all of FIGS. 10A-13 ). In addition, FIGS. 1-3 providedepictions of exemplary embodiments of the processes described herein asexecuted by biometric authentication system 400.

At 502, a biometric input is received by the biometric authenticationsystem for processing by the control circuitry (e.g., control circuitry408 of FIG. 4 ) from a user. For example, the user may provide a voicepattern for audio-based biometric authentication, a face or retinalimage for camera-based authentication, or a fingerprint for touch-basedauthentication. If it is determined that the biometric input can be usedto complete a biometric authentication (YES at 504), the controlcircuitry provides the user who provided the biometric input access toan interface available through successful completion of the biometricauthentication based on the authenticated user identity (e.g., userpreferences and other stored information corresponding to a stored userprofile that is associated with the authenticated user identity). If itis determined that the biometric input cannot be used to complete thebiometric authentication (NO at 504), the control circuitry reviewsprofile settings for any or all stored user profiles found in eitherlocate or remote storage accessible to the control circuitry for enabledalternative authentication methods. For example, stored profile data maybe found in local storage such as storage 422 of computing device 402 orstorage 438 of server 404 of FIG. 4 .

If it is determined that an alternative authentication method has notbeen enabled (NO at 508), the control circuitry informs the user whoprovide the biometric input that the user's identity cannot beauthenticated based on available authentication methods at 510. If it isdetermined that an alternative authentication method has been enabled(YES at 508), the control circuitry generates a prompt to the user toprovide credentials or an input which would enable authentication of theuser identity based on the alternative authentication method at 512. Itshould be noted that the determination at 508 and the subsequent promptgeneration at 512 may be executed by biometric authentication process800 of FIG. 8 . In some embodiments, the control circuitry may defaultto a non-biometric alternative authentication method based on thedetermination that the first type of biometric authentication hasfailed. In some embodiments, the control circuitry may prompt a secondtype of biometric authentication before prompting a user to provide anon-biometric input for a non-biometric type of authentication.

At 514, in response to completing the alternative authentication methodthe control circuitry selectively modifies a biometric characteristic ofa biometric signature, corresponding to the authenticated stored userprofile, for processing subsequent attempt of the first type ofauthentication. In some embodiments, selectively modifying firstincludes comparing the characteristics of the biometric input tocharacteristics of the stored biometric signature. Based on thecomparison, at least one difference between at least one characteristicof the biometric input and at least one respective characteristic of thebiometric signature is identified. In some embodiments, the differencemay be compared to a threshold value. Based on identified difference ordifferences, at least one characteristic is selected for modificationfor a transient period of time. The transient period of time indetermined based on the ability of a user to provide a biometric inputthat enables biometric authentication based on the unmodified biometricsignature. The comparison steps and the selective modification may beexecuted by starting at process block 602 in biometric authenticationprocess 600 of FIG. 6 , starting at process block 702 in biometricauthentication process 700 of FIG. 7 , starting at process block 802 inbiometric authentication process 800 of FIG. 8 , starting at processblock 902 in process 900 of FIG. 9 or utilizing the comparison andselective modification process exemplified by any or all of FIGS. 10A-13.

FIG. 6 depicts illustrative biometric authentication process 600 forenabling access to a stored user profile using a modified biometricsignature despite an inability to generate a biometric input thatenables authentication based on the stored biometric signature asdetermined by a comparison to a similarity threshold, in accordance withsome disclosed methods and embodiments. For example, a user may providea biometric input at 602 that is an audio input that may be used by oneof the biometric authentication systems described herein for the purposeof attempting to authenticate a user identity in order to retrieve astored user profile corresponding to the user identity. In otherexamples, the biometric input may be exemplified by any of the inputsprovided and analyzed in FIGS. 1-3 .

It should be noted that the process depicted in FIG. 6 or any stepthereof could be performed on, or provided by, any device shown in FIG.4 and can incorporate various user interfaces (e.g., display 410 of FIG.4 ). For example, the process depicted in FIG. 6 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 408 (FIG. 4 ) of user equipment exemplified bycomputing device 402. In addition, one or more steps of the processdepicted in FIG. 6 may be incorporated into or combined with one or moresteps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., starting at processblock 502 in biometric authentication process 500 of FIG. 5 , startingat process block 702 in biometric authentication process 700 of FIG. 7 ,starting at process block 802 in biometric authentication process 800 ofFIG. 8 , starting at process block 902 in process 900 of FIG. 9 orutilizing the comparison and selective modification processesexemplified by any or all of FIGS. 10A-13 ). In addition, FIGS. 1-3provide depictions of exemplary embodiments of the processes describedherein as executed by biometric authentication system 400.

At 602, a biometric input is received by the biometric authenticationsystem for processing by the control circuitry (e.g., control circuitry408 of FIG. 4 ) from a user. For example, the user may provide a voicepattern for audio-based biometric authentication, a face or retinalimage for camera-based authentication, or a fingerprint for touch-basedauthentication. At 604, biometric characteristics of the biometric inputare determined. For example, if the biometric input is an audio inputsome characteristics utilized for the purposes of performing a biometricauthentication may include pitch, accent, pace, breathing pattern, wordemphasis, and/or cadence. In some embodiments, the characteristics maycorrespond to the camera-based input such as features of a user's faceincluding spacing of generic facial features, hair color, or otherattributes. In some embodiments, the characteristics may correspond to atouch-based input such as a fingerprint which may rely on spacing andorientation of particular data points.

At 606, the characteristics determined at 604 are compared tocharacteristics of stored biometric signatures. In some embodiments,stored biometric signatures may be found in local storage such asstorage 422 of computing device 402 or storage 438 of server 404 of FIG.4 . The comparison may be executed by starting at starting at processblock 702 in biometric authentication process 700 of FIG. 7 , startingat process block 802 in biometric authentication process 800 of FIG. 8 ,starting at process block 902 in process 900 of FIG. 9 or utilizing thecomparison processes exemplified by any or all of FIGS. 10A-13 . In someembodiments, the comparison of the respective biometric characteristicsincludes comparing each plurality of biometric characteristics to eachother to determine a similarity value based on the measurable aspects ofeach respective biometric characteristics which may then be compared toa threshold similarity value. For example, a biometric characteristicmay have a unit of measurement assigned to it (e.g., for a voice-basedbiometric input, a characteristic may be pitch which may have anassigned value of 120 Hz). The biometric signature and the biometricinput may both have that characteristic captured and may have differentvalues for each (e.g., the biometric input may have a value of 120 Hzand the biometric signature may have a stored value of 160 Hz). Theremay be a stored threshold similarity value to which the differencebetween the biometric input and the biometric signature may be compared(e.g., the stored threshold may be an absolute value such as 20 Hz). Inthis example, since the biometric input pitch of 120 Hz is differentfrom the biometric signature of 160 Hz by 40 Hz, which exceeds the 20 Hzmaximum allowable difference, the control circuitry may determine thefirst type of biometric authentication cannot be completed.

In some embodiments, the similarity threshold may be binary in nature.For example, for a voice-based biometric input one biometriccharacteristic may be accent. The control circuitry may determine theaccent in the stored biometric signature and the accent in the biometricinput either matches or does not match. In this example, if the accentsare not the same, the control circuitry may determine the first type ofbiometric authentication cannot be completed. In some embodiments, thesimilarity value includes a series of weighted contributions of a seriesof threshold values and a series of binary values. For example,biometric characteristics for a voice-based input such as pitch, pace,and cadence may all be compared to a threshold difference value and maycontribute to the determination that the biometric input and thebiometric characteristic are sufficiently similar by contributing tohalf of the similarity value. Additionally, biometric characteristicsfor a voice-based input such as accent or word emphasis may be a binarymatch or does not match comparison to the biometric characteristic andthese binary values may contribute to the other half of the similarityvalue. In this example, if the similarity value contributions in sumexceed a threshold similarity value the biometric authentication maydetermine the first type of biometric authentication can be completed.

If it is determined that the biometric input can be used to complete abiometric authentication based on a comparison to a threshold similarityvalue (YES at 608), the control circuitry provides the user, whoprovided the biometric input, access to an interface available throughthe biometric authentication based on the authenticated user identity at610 (e.g., user preferences and other stored information correspondingto a stored user profile that is associated with the authenticated useridentity). If it is determined that the biometric input cannot be usedto complete the biometric authentication (NO at 608), the controlcircuitry reviews profile settings for any or all stored user profilesfound in either local or remote storage accessible to the controlcircuitry for enabled alternative authentication methods to generate aprompt for the user to log in at 612. For example, stored profile datamay be found in local storage such as storage 422 of computing device402 or storage 438 of server 404 of FIG. 4 . It should be noted that thedetermination at 608 and the subsequent prompt generation at 612 may beexecuted by biometric authentication process 800 of FIG. 8 as well asthe various comparison methods depicted in FIGS. 10A-13 . In someembodiments, the control circuitry may default to a non-biometricalternative authentication method based on the determination that thefirst type of biometric authentication has failed. In some embodiments,the control circuitry may prompt a second type of biometricauthentication before prompting a user to provide a non-biometric inputfor a non-biometric type of authentication.

At 614, in response to completing the alternative authentication methodthe control circuitry identifies a biometric signature corresponding tothe logged-in user profile and also matches a type of the biometricinput (e.g., if a voice-based input is provided, a voice-based signatureis identified). At 616, the control circuitry compares the biometriccharacteristics of the biometric input to the respective biometriccharacteristics of the biometric input. The comparison may reflect thesimilarity threshold comparison performed at 608. At 618, the controlcircuitry identifies a subset of biometric input characteristics thatare different from the respective subset of biometric signaturecharacteristics. In some embodiments, the difference is based on athreshold value as previously described or may be a binary difference,in that the control circuitry either determines they match or do nomatch. In response to identifying the subset of biometric inputcharacteristics, at 620 the control circuitry selectively modifies abiometric characteristic of a biometric signature, corresponding to theauthenticated stored user profile, for processing subsequent attempt ofthe first type of authentication.

In some embodiments, selectively modifying first includes comparing thecharacteristics of the biometric input to characteristics of the storedbiometric signature. Based on the comparison, at least one differencebetween at least one characteristic of the biometric input and at leastone respective characteristic of the biometric signature is identified.In some embodiments, the difference may be compared to a thresholdvalue. Based on an identified difference or identified differences, atleast one characteristic is selected for modification for a transienttime period. The transient time period determined based on the abilityof a user to provide a biometric input that enables biometricauthentication based on the unmodified biometric signature. Thecomparison steps and the selective modification may be executed bystarting at process block 514 in biometric authentication process 500 ofFIG. 5 , starting at process block 702 in biometric authenticationprocess 700 of FIG. 7 , starting at process block 802 in biometricauthentication process 800 of FIG. 8 , starting at process block 902 inprocess 900 of FIG. 9 or utilizing the comparison and selectivemodification processes exemplified by any or all of FIGS. 10A-13 .

FIG. 7 depicts illustrative biometric authentication process 700 forgenerating a confidence value for determining that a user cannot providea biometric input that enables successful completion of a particulartype of biometric authentication, in accordance with some disclosedmethods and embodiments. For example, a user may provide a biometricinput in response to a prompt to log in at 702 that is an audio inputthat may be used by one of the biometric authentication systemsdescribed herein for the purpose of attempting to authenticate a useridentity in order to retrieve a stored user profile corresponding to theuser identity. In other examples, the biometric input may be exemplifiedby any of the inputs provided and analyzed in FIGS. 1-3 .

It should be noted that the process depicted in FIG. 7 or any stepthereof could be performed on, or provided by, any device shown in FIG.4 and can incorporate various user interfaces (e.g., display 410 of FIG.4 ). For example, the process depicted in FIG. 7 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 408 (FIG. 4 ) of user equipment exemplified bycomputing device 402. In addition, one or more steps of the processdepicted in FIG. 7 may be incorporated into or combined with one or moresteps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., starting at processblock 512 of biometric authentication process 500 of FIG. 5 , startingat process block 612 in biometric authentication process 600 of FIG. 6 ,starting at process block 802 in biometric authentication process 808 ofFIG. 8 , starting at process block 902 in process 900 of FIG. 9 orutilizing the comparison and selective modification process exemplifiedby any or all of FIGS. 10A-13). In addition, FIGS. 1-3 providedepictions of exemplary embodiments of the processes described herein asexecuted by biometric authentication system 400.

At 702, the control circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 408 of FIG. 4 )generates a prompt for a user to manually enter some form of profilecredentials. In some embodiments, the control circuitry may havedetected a failure in a first type of biometric authentication (e.g., avoice-based biometric input was received and the control circuitry wasunable to identify a stored user profile based on the provided input).At 704, in response to receiving credentials for a stored user profile,the control circuitry retrieves a plurality of data corresponding to thestored user profile. For example, the plurality of data may be calendardata or messages corresponding to communications generated from thestored user profile. At 706, the control circuitry generates aconfidence value based on the retrieved profile data. For example, theconfidence value may correspond to a confidence that, based on the data,there is an indicium that a user cannot provide a biometric input thatenables biometric authentication based on a particular stored biometricsignature (e.g., there are is an appointment scheduled with a doctor andmessages relating to the appointment that indicate the user's voice mayhave changed recently, thereby indicating the ability of the user tocomplete authentication by a voice-based input compromised for atransient period of time). In some embodiments, the confidence value maybe a single numeric value that corresponds to a probability that a userin unable to provide a biometric input that enables authentication by abiometric signature in a stored user profile (e.g., 80% probability thatthe biometric input is altered). In some embodiments, the confidencevalue may be a dynamic value that gets updated based on subsequentinputs provided by a user.

At 708, the control circuitry compares the generated confidence value toa minimum confidence value. For example, the minimum confidence valuemay correspond to a 60% probability that a user is unable to provide abiometric input that enables authentication by a biometric signature ina stored user profile. If the control circuitry determines that thegenerated confidence value does not exceed the minimum thresholdconfidence value (NO at 708), the control circuitry retains the storedbiometric signatures in their respective current states at 710, and willnot rely on the confidence value for determining whether to selectivelymodify a stored biometric signature corresponding to a recent biometricinput. If the control circuitry determines that the generated confidencevalue does exceed the minimum threshold confidence value (YES at 708),the control circuitry compares the generated confidence value to amaximum threshold confidence value at 712. For example, if the generatedconfidence value is 80%, then it would exceed a minimum confidence valueof 60% and would then be compared to the maximum confidence value of 90%probability that a user is unable to provide a biometric input thatenables authentication by a biometric signature in a stored userprofile.

If the control circuitry determines the generated confidence value doesnot exceed a maximum threshold confidence value (NO at 712), the controlcircuitry generates a prompt requesting confirmation that a biometricinput is in an altered state at 714. For example, the control circuitrymay request input from a user confirming that the user's voice is in astate that prevents the user of a voice-based authentication method. Ifthe user responds to the prompt that the user can generate a biometricinput that enables authentication by the biometric authentication methodof the first type (NO at 716), the control circuitry retains the storedbiometric signatures in their respective current states at 710, and willnot rely on the confidence value for determining whether to selectivelymodify a stored biometric signature corresponding to a recent biometricinput.

If the user responds to the prompt that the user can generate abiometric input that enables authentication by the biometricauthentication method of the first type (YES at 716), the controlcircuitry generates a prompt requesting a biometric input at 718. Forexample, if the control circuitry determines based on the confidencevalue that the user's voice might be altered and the user confirms theirvoice is altered the control circuitry requests a voice input forfurther analysis. At 720, once the user provides the additionalrequested biometric input the control circuitry compares biometriccharacteristics of the biometric input to corresponding biometriccharacteristics of a biometric signature of the same type in a storeduser profile. The comparison may result in a selective modification ofthe biometric characteristics in the biometric signature, as depicted bythe exemplary comparison and modification processes shown in FIGS.10A-13 .

If the control circuitry determines the generated confidence value doesexceed a maximum threshold confidence value (YES at 712), the controlcircuitry generates a prompt requesting a biometric input at 718. Forexample, if the control circuitry determines based on the confidencevalue that the user's voice might be altered and the user confirms theirvoice is altered the control circuitry requests a voice input forfurther analysis. At 720, once the user provides the requested biometricinput the control circuitry compares biometric characteristics of thebiometric input to corresponding biometric characteristics of abiometric signature of the same type in a stored user profile. Thecomparison may result in a selective modification of the biometriccharacteristics in the biometric signature, as depicted by the exemplarycomparison and modification processes shown in FIGS. 10A-13 .

FIG. 8 depicts illustrative biometric authentication process 800 forprompting an alternative authentication method after detecting a failureof a first type of biometric authentication, in accordance with somedisclosed methods and embodiments. For example, a user may provide abiometric input at 802 that is an audio input that may be used by one ofthe biometric authentication systems described herein for the purpose ofattempting to authenticate a user identity in order to retrieve a storeduser profile corresponding to the user identity. In other examples, thebiometric input may be exemplified by any of the inputs provided andanalyzed in FIGS. 1-3 .

It should be noted that the process depicted in FIG. 8 or any stepthereof could be performed on, or provided by, any device shown in FIG.4 and can incorporate various user interfaces (e.g., display 410 of FIG.4 ). For example, the process depicted in FIG. 8 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 408 (FIG. 4 ) of user equipment exemplified bycomputing device 402. In addition, one or more steps of the processdepicted in FIG. 8 may be incorporated into or combined with one or moresteps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., starting at processblock 502 in biometric authentication process 500 of FIG. 5 , startingat process block 602 in biometric authentication process 600 of FIG. 6 ,starting at process block 702 in biometric authentication process 700 ofFIG. 7 , starting at process block 902 in process 900 of FIG. 9 orutilizing the comparison and selective modification processesexemplified by any or all of FIGS. 10A-13 ). In addition, FIGS. 1-3provide depictions of exemplary embodiments of the processes describedherein as executed by biometric authentication system 400.

At 802, the control circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 408 of FIG. 4 )may detect a failure of a first type of biometric authentication basedon a received biometric input. For example, a user may provide avoice-based biometric input and based on the various comparison methodsdescribed herein the control circuitry may determine the biometric inputis not similar enough to a biometric signature of a stored profile todetermine the authentication of the first type is possible. At 804, thecontrol circuitry may review the stored user profile for an enabledalternative authentication method (e.g., a fingerprint authenticationmethod or a credential entry-based authentication method). If thecontrol circuitry determines that an alternative authentication methodhas not been enabled (NO at 804), the control circuitry may inform theuser that authentication is not possible by the provided input at 806.If the control circuitry determines that an alternative authenticationmethod has been enabled (YES at 804), the control circuitry may generatea first prompt to the user that includes instructions to provide analternative input to perform a second type of authentication method at808. In some embodiments, the second type of authentication method maybe a second biometric authentication. (e.g., a voice-basedauthentication failed, and a prompt may be generated for a fingerprintauthentication, assuming the fingerprint authentication method has beenenabled).

If the control circuitry determines that the second type of biometricauthentication has not failed (NO at 810), the control circuitryprovides a user access to a user interface and preferences correspondingto the stored user profile based on the authenticated user at 812. Ifthe control circuitry determines that the second type of biometricauthentication has failed (YES at 810), the control circuitry generatesa second prompt for the user to log in or authenticate the user identityby non-biometric alternative type of authentication at 814 (e.g., avoice-based authentication failed at 802, a fingerprint authenticationfailed at 810, and a credential entry based log in is requested in thegenerated prompt at 814).

FIG. 9 depicts illustrative biometric authentication process 900 fordetermining that the modified biometric characteristic of the biometricsignature can be returned to an original state prior to the selectivemodification, in accordance with some disclosed methods and embodiments.For example, a user may provide a biometric input at 902 that is anaudio input that may be used by one of the biometric authenticationsystems described herein for the purpose of attempting to authenticate auser identity in order to retrieve a stored user profile correspondingto the user identity and the control circuitry corresponding to thebiometric authentication systems may determine to modify a biometricsignature in a stored user profile based on the biometric input. Inother examples, the biometric input may be exemplified by any of theinputs provided and analyzed in FIGS. 1-3 . After a transient period oftime, the control circuitry may be configured to return the selectivelymodified biometric signature back to an original state.

It should be noted that the process depicted in FIG. 9 or any stepthereof could be performed on, or provided by, any device shown in FIG.4 and can incorporate various user interfaces (e.g., display 410 of FIG.4 ). For example, the process depicted in FIG. 9 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 408 (FIG. 4 ) of user equipment exemplified bycomputing device 402. In addition, one or more steps of the processdepicted in FIG. 9 may be incorporated into or combined with one or moresteps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., starting at processblock 514 in biometric authentication process 500 of FIG. 5 , startingat process block 620 in biometric authentication process 600 of FIG. 6 ,starting at process block 702 in biometric authentication process 700 ofFIG. 7 , starting at process block 802 in biometric authenticationprocess 800 of FIG. 8 , or utilizing the comparison and selectivemodification process exemplified by any or all of FIGS. 10A-13 ). Inaddition, FIGS. 1-3 provide depictions of exemplary embodiments of theprocesses described herein as executed by biometric authenticationsystem 400.

At 902, the control circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 408 of FIG. 4 )identifies a subset of characteristics of the biometric input thatincludes characteristics that consist of different values than therespective biometric characteristics of a stored biometric signature.For example, the identification may be executed by any of the exemplarycomparison and identification steps depicted in FIGS. 10A-13 (e.g., aset of characteristics of a voice-based input are compared to a set ofcharacteristics of a voice-based signature and at least one of thecharacteristics of a voice-based input has a different value than thecorresponding characteristic of the voice-based signature). At 904, thecontrol circuitry modifies the subset of characteristics in thebiometric signature for analysis of a subsequent biometric input of asame type. For example, the original biometric input may include avoice-based input that has a pitch value that does not match a pitchvalue in the stored biometric signature. The pitch value in thebiometric signature may be modified to either not be used in asubsequent analysis of a new voice-based input or may be given a reducedweight in determining if the biometric signature may be authenticated bythe new voice-based input.

After the modification is completed, the control circuitry continues toreceive biometric inputs of the first type. Each subsequent biometricinput may be analyzed to determine if it matches or exceeds a similaritythreshold when compared to the biometric signature in the stored userprofile utilizing any of the comparison methods described herein. If thecontrol circuitry determines that a user has provided an input thatindicates the original unmodified biometric signature can be utilizedagain for the first type of biometric authentication (YES at 906), thecontrol circuitry utilizes the original biometric signature without theselective modifications from the analysis performed based on thepreceding biometric input of the first type at 908. In some embodiments,the user may provide direct input to the control circuitry that theirbiometric input has returned to an original state. For example, the usermay state their voice has returned to normal. In another example, thecontrol circuitry performs the confidence value analysis from FIG. 7 .In another example, the control circuitry may perform the similaritycomparison for each new received biometric input of the first type todetermine the user can provide the biometric input in a manner thatenables the biometric authentication of the first type using theunmodified biometric signature in the stored user profile.

If the control circuitry determines that a user has not provided abiometric input that indicates the original unmodified biometricsignature can be utilized again for the first type of biometricauthentication (NO at 906), the control circuitry determines if athreshold amount of time has passed since the last review of the user'sability to provide a biometric input of the first type that enablesbiometric authentication of the first type at 910. For example, theremay be a stored threshold amount of time based on the determination thatthe user's ability to provide a biometric input that enablesauthentication of the user by the first type of biometric authenticationsuch as five days. If five days have not yet passed between the firstbiometric input that led to the biometric signature being selectivelymodified and the second biometric input, then the control circuitrycontinues to monitor for additional biometric inputs to perform a futurecomparison of characteristics at 906.

If the control circuitry determines a threshold amount of time haspassed (YES at 910), the control circuitry receives a subsequentbiometric input to perform the comparison analysis to the originalbiometric signature previously described at 912. If the subsequentbiometric input is not comparable to the original biometric signature(NO at 914), the control circuitry continues to monitor for a user inputthat indicates the biometric signature no longer needs to be selectivelymodified at 906. If the subsequent biometric input is comparable to theoriginal biometric signature (YES at 914), the control circuitryutilizes the original biometric signature without the selectivemodifications from the analysis performed based on the precedingbiometric input of the first type at 908. In some embodiments, the usermay provide direct input to the control circuitry that their biometricinput has returned to an original state. For example, the user may statetheir voice has returned to normal. In another example, the controlcircuitry performs the confidence value analysis from FIG. 7 . Inanother example, the control circuitry may perform the similaritycomparison for each new received biometric input of the first type todetermine the user can provide the biometric input in a manner thatenables the biometric authentication of the first type using theunmodified biometric signature in the stored user profile.

FIG. 10A is an illustrative example of a collection of biometriccharacteristics of biometric signature 1000 a utilized by the biometricauthentic application for performing a first type of biometricauthentication, in accordance with some disclosed methods andembodiments. In some embodiments, the application may utilize a slotmatrix for determining elements of a user statement. For example, a usermay provide a biometric input that is an audio input that may be used byone of the biometric authentication systems described herein for thepurpose of attempting to authenticate a user identity using biometricsignature 1000 a in order to retrieve a stored user profilecorresponding to the user identity. In other examples, the biometricinput may be exemplified by any of the inputs provided and analyzed inFIGS. 1-3 .

It should be noted that the biometric signature depicted in FIG. 10A orany alternative embodiment thereof may be analyzed by any processperformed by, or provided to, any device shown in FIG. 4 and mayincorporate various user interfaces (e.g., display 410 of FIG. 4 ). Forexample, the biometric signature depicted in FIG. 10A may be receivedand analyzed by control circuitry 408 (FIG. 4 ) of user equipmentexemplified by computing device 402. In addition, one or morecharacteristics of the biometric signature depicted in FIG. 10A may beincorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any otherprocess or embodiment (e.g., starting at process block 502 in biometricauthentication process 500 of FIG. 5 , starting at process block 602 inbiometric authentication process 600 of FIG. 6 , starting at processblock 702 in biometric authentication process 700 of FIG. 7 , startingat process block 802 in biometric authentication process 800 of FIG. 8 ,starting at process block 902 in process 900 of FIG. 9 or utilizing thecomparison and selective modification process exemplified by any or allof FIGS. 10B-13 ). In addition, FIGS. 1-3 provide depictions ofexemplary embodiments of the processes described herein as executed bybiometric authentication system 400.

Biometric signature 1000 a includes biometric signature characteristics1002 a. For example, biometric signature 1000 a may be a voice-basedsignature which may be characterized by a set of characteristics such aspitch, accent, pace, breathing pattern, word emphasis, and/or cadence.In another embodiment, biometric signature 1000 a may correspond to adifferent type of biometric input such as those depicted in FIGS. 2 and3 , which may have a different set of characteristics that would beuseful for analysis of a biometric input as depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3 .Each of biometric signature characteristics 1002 a has a respectivestored characteristic values 1004 a. For example, the biometriccharacteristic pitch may have a stored value of 160 Hz. Prior toanalysis of a subsequent biometric input, each of biometric signaturecharacteristics 1002 a has stored characteristics statuses forauthentication 1006 a. For example, biometric signature 1000 a may nothave had a failed authentication attempt and the status for each ofbiometric signature characteristics 1002 a may be a status designatingeach characteristic “AVAILABLE,” as depicted by stored characteristicsstatuses for authentication 1006 a. In some embodiments, if the statusis “AVAILABLE” then the corresponding biometric signature characteristicmay be considered as part of any of the biometric authenticationprocesses described herein.

FIG. 10B is an illustrative example of selective biometriccharacteristic modification 1000 b. The biometric characteristics of astored biometric signature are selectively modified by the controlcircuitry (e.g., control circuitry 408 of FIG. 4 ), in accordance withsome disclosed methods and embodiments. For example, a user may providea biometric input that is an audio input that may be used by one of thebiometric authentication systems described herein for the purpose ofattempting to authenticate a user identity in order to retrieve a storeduser profile corresponding to the user identity based on selectivebiometric characteristic modification 1000 b. In other examples, thebiometric input may be exemplified by any of the inputs provided andanalyzed in FIGS. 1-3 .

It should be noted that the biometric signature and biometric inputdepicted in FIG. 10B or any alternative embodiment thereof may beanalyzed by any process performed by, or provided to, any device shownin FIG. 4 and may incorporate various user interfaces (e.g., display 410of FIG. 4 ). For example, the biometric signature and biometric inputdepicted in FIG. 10B may be received and analyzed by control circuitry408 (FIG. 4 ) of user equipment exemplified by computing device 402. Inaddition, one or more characteristics of the biometric signature andbiometric input depicted in FIG. 10B may be incorporated into orcombined with one or more steps of any other process or embodiment(e.g., starting at process block 502 in biometric authentication process500 of FIG. 5 , starting at process block 602 in biometricauthentication process 600 of FIG. 6 , starting at process block 702 inbiometric authentication process 700 of FIG. 7 , starting at processblock 802 in biometric authentication process 800 of FIG. 8 , startingat process block 902 in process 900 of FIG. 9 or utilizing thecomparison and selective modification process exemplified by any or allof FIGS. 10A and 11-13 ). In addition, FIGS. 1-3 provide depictions ofexemplary embodiments of the processes described herein as executed bybiometric authentication system 400.

Selective biometric characteristic modification 1000 b requiresreception by biometric authentication system 400 of FIG. 4 of biometricinput characteristics 1008. For example, a biometric input may be avoice-based input which may be characterized by a set of characteristicssuch as pitch, accent, pace, breathing pattern, word emphasis, and/orcadence. In another embodiment, the biometric input may correspond to adifferent type of biometric input such as those depicted in FIGS. 2 and3 , which may have a different set of characteristics that would beuseful for analysis of a biometric input as depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3 .Each of biometric input characteristics 1008 has a respective biometricinput characteristic depicted as values 1010. For example, the biometricinput characteristic pitch may have a received value of 120 Hz. Prior toanalysis of a subsequent biometric input, each of biometric signaturecharacteristics 1002 b also has stored characteristic status forauthentication 1006 b. Each of biometric signature characteristics 1002b may have respective stored characteristic values 1004 b. For example,the biometric characteristic pitch may have a stored value of 160 Hz.

As a result of an analysis of the biometric input, each of biometricsignature characteristics 1002 b also has a stored characteristic statusfor authentication 1006 b. For example, the biometric signature may havehad a failed authentication attempt, and the status for some ofbiometric signature characteristics 1002 b may be a status designatingsome of the characteristics are “SUPPRESSED” as depicted by storedcharacteristics statuses for authentication 1006 b. In some embodiments,if the status is “SUPPRESSED” then the corresponding biometric signaturecharacteristic may not be considered as part of any of the biometricauthentication processes described herein. The status “SUPPRESSED” maybe assigned based on an analysis when a received characteristic does notmatch a corresponding stored characteristic or is not within a thresholdvalue, as depicted by biometric authentication process 600 of FIG. 6 .

FIG. 11 is an illustrative example biometric characteristic comparison1100. Biometric input characteristic values 1106 may be compared tobiometric signature characteristic values 1104 for the purpose ofdetermining if the control circuitry can complete a first type ofbiometric authentication, in accordance with some disclosed methods andembodiments. For example, a user may provide a biometric input thatincludes biometric characteristics 1102 that correspond to an audioinput that may be used by one of the biometric authentication systemsdescribed herein for the purpose of attempting to authenticate a useridentity in order to retrieve a stored user profile corresponding to theuser identity. In other examples, the biometric input may be exemplifiedby any of the inputs provided and analyzed in FIGS. 1-3 .

It should be noted that biometric characteristic comparison 1100depicted in FIG. 11 or any step thereof could be performed on, orprovided by, any device shown in FIG. 4 and can incorporate various userinterfaces (e.g., display 410 of FIG. 4 ). For example, biometriccharacteristic comparison 1100, depicted in FIG. 11 , may be executed bycontrol circuitry 408 (FIG. 4 ) of user equipment exemplified bycomputing device 402. In addition, one or more steps of that biometriccharacteristic comparison 1100 depicted in FIG. 11 may be incorporatedinto or combined with one or more steps of any other process orembodiment (e.g., starting at process block 502 in biometricauthentication process 500 of FIG. 5 , starting at process block 602 inbiometric authentication process 600 of FIG. 6 , starting at processblock 702 in biometric authentication process 700 of FIG. 7 , startingat process block 802 in biometric authentication process 800 of FIG. 8 ,starting at process block 902 in process 900 of FIG. 9 or utilizing thecomparison and selective modification process exemplified by any or allof FIGS. 10A, 10B, 12 , and 13). In addition, FIGS. 1-3 providedepictions of exemplary embodiments of the processes described herein asexecuted by biometric authentication system 400.

Biometric characteristic comparison 1100 includes identifying a set ofbiometric characteristics such as biometric signature characteristics1102. For example, for a voice-based input, biometric signaturecharacteristics 1102 may include pitch, accent, pace, breathing pattern,word emphasis, and/or cadence. In other embodiments, biometric signaturecharacteristics 1102 may include a set of characteristics correspondingto different types of biometric signatures such as those depicted inFIGS. 2 and 3 . For each of biometric signature characteristics 1102,the control circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 408 of FIG. 4 )identifies corresponding stored characteristic values 1104 for each ofbiometric signature characteristics 1102. Additionally, the controlcircuitry identifies corresponding received input characteristic values1106 identified from received biometric input. Each value of storedcharacteristic values 1104 and received input characteristic values 1106may be either numeric or descriptive, depending on the characteristiceach value corresponds to. For example, the characteristic accent may bea descriptive term (e.g., the received input value is “UNKNOWN” and thestored value is “New England”) whereas the characteristic pitch may be anumeric value (e.g., the received input value is 120 Hz and the storedvalue is 160 Hz).

Difference 1108 represents the result of the comparison of storedcharacteristic values 1104 and received input characteristic values1106. For example, the characteristic accent may have a binary “MATCH”or “NO MATCH” difference value based on the comparison of respectivedescriptive values (e.g., the received input value is “UNKNOWN” and thestored value is “New England” resulting in a difference value of “NOMATCH”), whereas the characteristic pitch results in a numericdifference value (e.g., the received input value is 120 Hz and thestored value is 160 Hz, resulting in a difference value of −40 Hz). Oncedifference 1108 is determined for each respective characteristic, thecontrol circuitry proceeds to further compare the values to a thresholdor may determine to suppress or deemphasize each respectivecharacteristic, in accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure.

FIG. 12 shows illustrative biometric characteristic comparison 1200between a collection of biometric input characteristics and a collectionof respective biometric characteristics of an exemplary biometricsignature being compared to a threshold value for the purpose ofdetermining if the control circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 408 ofFIG. 4 ) can complete a first type of biometric authentication, inaccordance with some disclosed methods and embodiments. For example, auser may provide a biometric input that is an audio input that may beused by one of the biometric authentication systems described herein forthe purpose of attempting to authenticate a user identity in order toretrieve a stored user profile corresponding to the user identity. Inother examples, the biometric input may be exemplified by any of theinputs provided and analyzed in FIGS. 1-3 .

It should be noted that biometric characteristic comparison 1200depicted in FIG. 12 or any step thereof could be performed on, orprovided by, any device shown in FIG. 4 and can incorporate various userinterfaces (e.g., display 410 of FIG. 4 ). For example, biometriccharacteristic comparison 1200 depicted in FIG. 12 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 408 (FIG. 4 ) of user equipment exemplified bycomputing device 402. In addition, one or more steps of biometriccharacteristic comparison 1200 depicted in FIG. 12 may be incorporatedinto or combined with one or more steps of any other process orembodiment (e.g., starting at process block 504 of biometricauthentication process 500 of FIG. 5 , starting at process block 602 inbiometric authentication process 600 of FIG. 6 , starting at processblock 702 in biometric authentication process 700 of FIG. 7 , startingat process block 802 in biometric authentication process 800 of FIG. 8 ,starting at process block 902 in process 900 of FIG. 9 or utilizing thecomparison and selective modification process exemplified by any or allof FIGS. 10A-11 and 13 ). In addition, FIGS. 1-3 provide depictions ofexemplary embodiments of the processes described herein as executed bybiometric authentication system 400.

Biometric characteristic comparison 1200 includes identifying a set ofbiometric characteristics such as biometric signature characteristics1202. For example, for a voice-based input, biometric signaturecharacteristics 1202 may include pitch, accent, pace, breathing pattern,word emphasis, and/or cadence. In other embodiments, biometric signaturecharacteristics 1202 may include a set of characteristics correspondingto different types of biometric signatures such as those depicted inFIGS. 2 and 3 . For each of biometric signature characteristics 1202,the control circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 408 of FIG. 4 )identifies corresponding stored characteristic values 1204 for each ofbiometric signature characteristics 1202. Additionally, the controlcircuitry identifies corresponding received input characteristic values1206 identified from received biometric input. Each value of storedcharacteristic values 1104 and received input characteristic values 1206may be either numeric or descriptive, depending on the characteristiceach value corresponds to. For example, the characteristic accent may bea descriptive term (e.g., the received input value is “UNKNOWN” and thestored value is “New England”) whereas the characteristic pitch may be anumeric value (e.g., the received input value is 120 Hz and the storedvalue is 160 Hz).

Difference 1208 represents the result of the comparison of storedcharacteristic values 1204 and received input characteristic values1206. For example, the characteristic accent may have a binary “MATCH”or “NO MATCH” difference value based on the comparison of respectivedescriptive values (e.g., the received input value is “UNKNOWN” and thestored value is “New England” resulting in a difference value of “NOMATCH”) whereas the characteristic pitch results in a numeric differencevalue (e.g., the received input value is 120 Hz and the stored value is160 Hz resulting in a difference value of −40 Hz). Once difference 1208is determined for each respective characteristic, the control circuitryproceeds to further compare the values to a threshold. Threshold values1210 are a set of stored values that the control circuitry stores foranalysis to determine which of biometric signature characteristics 1202to selectively modify. For example, the threshold value for a binarydifference value may indicate that a respective signature may besuppressed if there is no match between the stored and received inputcharacteristic values (e.g., the received accent “UNKNOWN” does notmatch the stored accent “New England” which meets the “NO MATCH”threshold). In another example, the threshold value may be an absolutevalue for a difference between numeric values stored for respectivebiometric signature characteristics (e.g., the received pitch value of120 Hz is more than a 20 Hz difference from stored pitch value 160 Hz).

In response to comparing difference 1208 to threshold values 1210, thecontrol circuitry assigns to each of biometric signature characteristics1202 respective stored characteristic statuses 1212. For example, thebiometric signature may have had a failed authentication attempt and thestatus for some of biometric signature characteristics 1202 may be astatus designating some of the characteristics are “SUPPRESSED” asdepicted by stored characteristic statuses 1212. In some embodiments, ifthe status is “SUPPRESSED,” then the corresponding biometric signaturecharacteristic may not be considered as part of any of the biometricauthentication processes described herein. The status “SUPPRESSED” maybe assigned based on an analysis when a received characteristic does notmatch a corresponding stored characteristic or is not within a thresholdvalue, as depicted by biometric authentication process 600 of FIG. 6 .In another example, if the status is “AVAILABLE,” then the correspondingbiometric signature characteristic may be considered as part of any ofthe biometric authentication processes described herein. In someembodiments, there may be a third status of “MODIFIED,” when acharacteristic is modified to enable its use for subsequentauthentication attempts of the first type of biometric authentication.The modified status may correspond to either a different threshold beingused for comparison or the particular characteristic having a greaterweight contributing to the method of authentication (e.g., relying moreon some characteristics as opposed to others).

FIG. 13 depicts selective modification process 1300. A collection ofbiometric input characteristics are compared to a collection ofrespective biometric characteristics of a biometric signature, each ofwhich has a respective emphasis factor, for the purpose of determiningif the control circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 408 of FIG. 4 ) cancomplete a first type of biometric authentication and selectivelymodifying the collection of respective biometric characteristics of thebiometric signature, in accordance with some disclosed methods andembodiments. For example, a user may provide a biometric input that isan audio input that may be used by one of the biometric authenticationsystems described herein for the purpose of attempting to authenticate auser identity in order to retrieve a stored user profile correspondingto the user identity and, based on that biometric input, a storedbiometric signature may be modified for processing subsequent biometricinputs of the same type. In other examples, the biometric input may beexemplified by any of the inputs provided and analyzed in FIGS. 1-3 .

It should be noted that selective modification process 1300 depicted inFIG. 13 or any step thereof could be performed on, or provided by, anydevice shown in FIG. 4 and can incorporate various user interfaces(e.g., display 410 of FIG. 4 ). For example, the selective modificationprocess 1300 depicted in FIG. 13 may be executed by control circuitry408 (FIG. 4 ) of user equipment exemplified by computing device 402. Inaddition, one or more steps of the selective modification process 1300depicted in FIG. 13 may be incorporated into or combined with one ormore steps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., starting at processblock 514 of biometric authentication process 500 of FIG. 5 , startingat process block 620 in biometric authentication process 600 of FIG. 6 ,starting at process block 702 in biometric authentication process 700 ofFIG. 7 , starting at process block 802 in biometric authenticationprocess 800 of FIG. 8 , starting at process block 908 in process 900 ofFIG. 9 or utilizing the comparison and selective modification processexemplified by any or all of FIGS. 10A-12 ). In addition, FIGS. 1-3provide depictions of exemplary embodiments of the processes describedherein as executed by biometric authentication system 400.

Selective modification process 1300 starts by receiving a biometricinput that includes biometric input characteristics 1302 and receivedinput characteristics values 1304. For example, for a voice-based input,biometric signature characteristics 1302 may include pitch, accent,pace, breathing pattern, word emphasis, and/or cadence. In otherembodiments, biometric signature characteristics 1302 may include a setof characteristics corresponding to different types of biometricsignatures such as those depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3 . The biometric inputis compared to a biometric signature of a same type corresponding to astored user profile. The biometric signature includes biometricsignature characteristics 1306, stored characteristic values 1308,threshold values 1310, and stored weights 1312. For example, each ofbiometric characteristics 1306 may correspond to each of biometric inputcharacteristics 1302.

Threshold values 1310 are a set of stored values that the controlcircuitry (e.g., control circuitry 408 of FIG. 4 ) stores for analysisto determine which of biometric signature characteristics 1306 toselectively modify. For example, the threshold value for a binarydifference value may indicate that a respective signature may besuppressed if there is no match between the stored and received inputcharacteristic values (e.g., the received accent “UNKNOWN” does notmatch the stored accent “New England” which meets the “NO MATCH”threshold). In another example, the threshold value may be an absolutevalue for a difference between numeric values stored for respectivebiometric signature characteristics (e.g., the received pitch value of120 Hz is more than a 20 Hz different from stored pitch value 160 Hz).

Stored weights 1312 are a set of stored values that the controlcircuitry utilizes to determine a weighted influence of a particularbiometric characteristic in comparing a received input to a storedsignature. For example, the sum of stored emphasis factors may be avalue of 1 and there may be a minimum value that needs to be surpassedto enable authentication may be a value of 0.7 depending on how manycharacteristics are enabled for authentication. Based on a comparisonbetween received input characteristic values 1304 and storedcharacteristic values 1308, a set of difference values 1316 aredetermined for each of biometric signature characteristics 1314 whichcorrespond to biometric signature characteristics 1306. Each ofdifference values 1316 are then compared to each of threshold values1310. In response to determining each which of difference values 1316are outside of threshold values 1310, modified biometric signaturecharacteristics 1318 are determined which retain corresponding storedcharacteristic values 1320 with stored weights 1322. Modified biometricsignature characteristics 1318 correspond to a subset of biometricsignature characteristics 1306 for which difference values 1316 werewithin threshold values 1310. In some embodiments, some of biometricsignature characteristics 1306 may be suppressed entirely as shown inFIG. 13 by modifying respective stored weights 1322 to be a value of 0or by simply blocking the characteristic from being considered in asubsequent analysis of a biometric input of a same type. In someembodiments, stored weights 1322 may be different values from storedweights 1312. For example, the control circuitry may apply a largercontributing weight to the characteristics that are shown to be within athreshold value and may apply a smaller contributing weight to thecharacteristics that are outside a threshold value.

The systems and processes discussed above are intended to beillustrative and not limiting. One skilled in the art would appreciatethat the actions of the processes discussed herein may be omitted,modified, combined, and/or rearranged, and any additional actions may beperformed without departing from the scope of the invention. Moregenerally, the above disclosure is meant to be exemplary and notlimiting. Only the claims that follow are meant to set bounds as to whatthe present disclosure includes. Furthermore, it should be noted thatthe features and limitations described in any one embodiment may beapplied to any other embodiment herein, and flowcharts or examplesrelating to one embodiment may be combined with any other embodiment ina suitable manner, done in different orders, or done in parallel. Inaddition, the systems and methods described herein may be performed inreal time. It should also be noted that the systems and/or methodsdescribed above may be applied to, or used in accordance with, othersystems and/or methods.

While some portions of this disclosure may refer to “convention” orexamples, any such reference is merely to provide context to the instantdisclosure and does not form any admission as to what constitutes thestate of the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: detecting a failure of afirst type of biometric authentication; in response to detecting thefailure of the first type of biometric authentication, completing analternative type of authentication; in response to completing thealternative type of authentication, selectively modifying, in a storeduser profile, a biometric characteristic of a biometric signature forprocessing a subsequent attempt of the first type of biometricauthentication; generating, after a predetermined time period, aconfirmation prompt requesting user confirmation that the biometriccharacteristic of the biometric signature be returned to its state priorto the selective modification; and in response to receiving the userconfirmation, returning the biometric characteristic of the biometricsignature to its state prior to the selective modification forprocessing a third attempt of the first type of biometricauthentication.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the failureof the first type of biometric authentication comprises: receiving abiometric input signal comprising a biometric characteristic; comparingthe biometric characteristic of the biometric input signal to thebiometric characteristics of the biometric signature in the stored userprofile; and determining, based on the comparing, that the biometriccharacteristic of the biometric input signal is below a thresholdsimilarity value of the biometric characteristic of the biometricsignature in the stored user profile.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereincompleting the alternative type of authentication comprises: retrievingat least one user setting in the stored user profile; determining, basedon the at least one user setting, at least one authentication signaturein the stored user profile; and receiving an alternative input signalthat meets or exceeds a similarity threshold when compared to the atleast one authentication signature in the stored user profile, whereinthe alternative input signal is used to complete the alternative type ofauthentication.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: inresponse to determining, based on the at least one user setting, atleast one authentication signature in the stored user profile,generating a prompt comprised of instructions to input the alternativeinput signal corresponding to the at least one authentication signaturein the stored user profile.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereinselectively modifying, in the stored user profile, the biometriccharacteristic of the biometric signature for processing the subsequentattempt of the first type of biometric authentication comprises:comparing one or more biometric characteristics of the biometric inputsignal to one or more respective biometric characteristics of thebiometric signature; determining, based on the comparing, that one ormore of the biometric characteristics of the biometric input signal aredifferent from one or more of the corresponding biometriccharacteristics of the biometric signature, wherein the differencebetween the one or more of the biometric characteristics of thebiometric input signal and the one or more of the correspondingbiometric characteristics of the biometric signature matches or exceedsa difference threshold; and selecting, based on the determining, the oneor more of the corresponding biometric characteristics of the biometricsignature for modification.
 6. The method of claim 5, furthercomprising: modifying an emphasis factor corresponding to the one ormore of the biometric characteristics of the biometric signatureselected for modification.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein thebiometric characteristic is one of a plurality of biometriccharacteristics of the biometric signature, the method furthercomprising: completing the first type of biometric authentication forthe subsequent attempt by utilizing one or more of the plurality ofbiometric characteristics and preventing utilization of one or moreother ones of the plurality of biometric characteristics.
 8. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: retrieving a plurality of dataassociated with the stored user profile; and generating, based on theplurality of data, a confidence value corresponding to the biometriccharacteristic, wherein the confidence value indicates a probabilitythat utilizing the biometric characteristic would cause the first typeof biometric authentication to fail; comparing the confidence value to athreshold confidence value; determining, based on the comparing, thatthe confidence value matches or exceeds the threshold confidence value;and in response to determining that the confidence value matches orexceeds the threshold confidence value, selecting the biometriccharacteristic of the biometric signature for modification forprocessing the subsequent attempt of the first type of biometricauthentication.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: retrievinga plurality of data associated with the stored user profile; andgenerating, based on the plurality of data, a confidence valuecorresponding to the biometric signature, wherein the confidence valueindicates a probability that utilizing the biometric characteristicwould cause the first type of biometric authentication to fail;comparing the confidence value to a threshold confidence value;determining, based on the comparing, that the confidence value matchesor exceeds the threshold confidence value; and in response todetermining that the confidence value matches or exceeds the thresholdconfidence value, generating a notification indicating that the firsttype of biometric authentication has failed.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein comparing the confidence value to the threshold confidence valuefurther comprises: comparing the confidence value to a minimum thresholdconfidence value, determining, based on the comparing, that theconfidence value matches or exceeds the minimum threshold confidencevalue; and in response to determining that the confidence value matchesor exceeds the minimum threshold confidence value, generating a promptrequesting user confirmation that the biometric characteristic haschanged.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: comparing theconfidence value to a maximum threshold confidence value, determining,based on the comparing, that the confidence value matches or exceedsboth the minimum threshold confidence value and the maximum thresholdconfidence value; and in response to determining that the confidencevalue matches or exceeds both the minimum threshold confidence value andthe maximum threshold confidence value, generating a prompt requestingentry of a biometric input signal.
 12. A method comprising: detecting afailure of a first type of biometric authentication; in response todetecting the failure of the first type of biometric authentication,completing an alternative type of authentication; in response tocompleting the alternative type of authentication, selectivelymodifying, in a stored user profile, a biometric characteristic of abiometric signature for processing a subsequent attempt of the firsttype of biometric authentication; determining, after a predeterminedtime period, a probability that utilizing the biometric characteristicwould cause the first type of biometric authentication to besuccessfully completed; and in response to the determining, returningthe biometric characteristic of the biometric signature to its stateprior to the selective modification for processing a third attempt ofthe first type of biometric authentication.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein determining, after a predetermined time period, a probabilitythat utilizing the biometric characteristic would cause the first typeof biometric authentication to be successfully completed comprises:receiving a biometric input signal; comparing one or more biometriccharacteristics of the biometric input signal to one or more respectivebiometric characteristics of a biometric signature in the stored userprofile; determining, based on the comparing, that the biometric inputsignal matches or exceeds a threshold similarity value of the biometricsignature in the stored user profile; and in response to thedetermining, returning the biometric characteristic of the biometricsignature to its state prior to the selective modification forprocessing a third attempt of the first type of biometricauthentication.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein determining, after apredetermined time period, a probability that utilizing the biometriccharacteristic would cause the first type of biometric authentication tobe successfully completed comprises: retrieving a plurality of dataassociated with the stored user profile; generating, based on theplurality of data, a confidence value corresponding to the biometricsignature, wherein the confidence value indicates a probability thatutilizing the biometric characteristic would cause the first type ofbiometric authentication to fail; comparing the confidence value to athreshold confidence value; determining, based on the comparing, thatthe confidence value is less than the threshold confidence value; and inresponse to determining that the confidence value is less than thethreshold confidence value, returning the biometric characteristic ofthe biometric signature to its state prior to the selective modificationfor processing a third attempt of the first type of biometricauthentication.
 15. A system comprising: a communication port; a memorystoring instructions; and control circuitry communicably coupled to thememory and the communication port and configured to execute theinstructions to: detect a failure of a first type of biometricauthentication; in response to detecting the failure of the first typeof biometric authentication, complete an alternative type ofauthentication; in response to completing the alternative type ofauthentication, selectively modify, in a stored user profile, abiometric characteristic of a biometric signature for processing asubsequent attempt of the first type of biometric authentication;generate, after a predetermined time period, a confirmation promptrequesting user confirmation that the biometric characteristic of thebiometric signature be returned to its state prior to the selectivemodification; and in response to receiving the user confirmation, returnthe biometric characteristic of the biometric signature to its stateprior to the selective modification for processing a third attempt ofthe first type of biometric authentication.
 16. The system of claim 15,wherein the control circuitry is further configured to detect thefailure of the first type of biometric authentication by: receiving, viathe communication port, a biometric input signal comprising a biometriccharacteristic; comparing the biometric characteristic of the biometricinput signal to the biometric characteristics of the biometric signaturein the stored user profile; and determining, based on the comparing,that the biometric characteristic of the biometric input signal is belowa threshold similarity value of the biometric characteristic of thebiometric signature in the stored user profile.
 17. The system of claim15, wherein the control circuitry is configured to complete thealternative type of authentication by: retrieving, from the memory, atleast one user setting in the stored user profile; determining, based onthe at least one user setting, at least one authentication signature inthe stored user profile; and receiving, via the communication port, analternative input signal that meets or exceeds a similarity thresholdwhen compared to the at least one authentication signature in the storeduser profile, wherein the alternative input signal is used to completethe alternative type of authentication.
 18. The system of claim 17,wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: in response todetermining, based on the at least one user setting, at least oneauthentication signature in the stored user profile, generate a promptcomprised of instructions to input the alternative input signalcorresponding to the at least one authentication signature in the storeduser profile.
 19. The system of claim 15, wherein the control circuitryis further configured to selectively modify, in the stored user profile,the biometric characteristic of the biometric signature for processingthe subsequent attempt of the first type of biometric authentication by:comparing one or more biometric characteristics of the biometric inputsignal to one or more respective biometric characteristics of thebiometric signature; determining, based on the comparing, that one ormore of the biometric characteristics of the biometric input signal aredifferent from one or more of the corresponding biometriccharacteristics of the biometric signature, wherein the differencebetween the one or more of the biometric characteristics of thebiometric input signal and the one or more of the correspondingbiometric characteristics of the biometric signature matches or exceedsa difference threshold; and selecting, based on the determining, the oneor more of the corresponding biometric characteristics of the biometricsignature for modification.